


A Friend is Also A Fortress

by TheDefenderoftheFaith



Category: Green Lantern (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, HAL'S BEST FRIEND DIED WHY DID HIS COMIC NOT CARE, Hal Has Issues, Hal Jordan Needs A Hug, Happy Ending, Post Crisis, does it count as major character death if he just goes in and out of the speed force?, he does in this one, he will receive one, hurt comfort, sad middle/beginning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:55:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29045715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDefenderoftheFaith/pseuds/TheDefenderoftheFaith
Summary: In years after Barry's death, Hal would return to the statue. Would tell it his fears and sorrows and worries, would update it with news and events. As the world crumbled into darkness, the statue stayed, larger than life, shining against all odds. And Barry held him, and comforted him and listened to him year after year, soaking up jubilant triumphs, and whispered apologies. Post Crisis.
Relationships: Hal Jordan & Barry Allen
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	A Friend is Also A Fortress

The bronze of Flash’s statue was cold, even through the surreal warmth of Hal’s uniform. All of him felt cold, though, and he kept expecting to see his breath hang in the air of the Flash Museum, no matter how illogical the thought. 

Hal leaned against it anyway, fitting the curves of his body into the larger-than-life leg of Central City’s own Scarlet Speedster. 

Barry had hated the thing. Too big, too much. He couldn’t see why one normal sized statue hadn’t been enough, and had blushed in its presence, ducking his head to avoid meeting its eyes. 

Conveniently, Hal felt the same. 

He shouldn’t be here. In Central City, but especially in the Flash Museum; a place that had taken on a near sacred aura.

Go figure that the only place he could bring himself to stay was huddled against the boot of a 40 ft tall version of his best friend. 

Former best friend?

Did it still count if he was dead?

Did it count if Hal may as well have slit Barry’s throat?

People had told Hal he was an idiot before. Reckless, stupid, thoughtless, look-before-you-leap in all the wrong ways. It would get him in trouble one day - real trouble, he was going to regret it. 

So naturally, he made no effort whatsoever to change anything. 

So naturally, when  _ Star Sapphire _ of all people, someone who had betrayed him more times than he could remember, gave him the choice to marry her if only he  _ gave up his ring _ … obviously he jumped at the chance! What could go wrong!

Hal choked, and turned his tear-stained face into Barry’s calf. 

Well, for starters, he could be betrayed again. ‘Natch. And the universe could fall to pieces. Hundreds of billions of worlds: dead. And that didn’t even mention his best friend. 

See, Barry had been dangerous. From what they had been able to glean from the Psycho Pirate, the Anti-Monitor just couldn’t let someone who could traverse dimensions at will, unaided, wander free. 

So, of course he captured him. So, of  _ course _ he handed Barry over to be  _ tortured _ for weeks! So  _ of course _ Barry just  _ had _ to play the hero, just had to give and give and give so much of himself that when the second strike team made its way to Qward there wasn’t even a Barry left to bury. 

The entire multiverse saved, from what they surmised. Every universe left, every person contained in it, and in the new world they created… they all owed their lives to one Barry Allen. Barry, who had died alone, scattered across time, begging for someone to help him. 

And where was Hal? Stranded. Powerless. Ringless. Useless. Stupid. 

And maybe if he hadn’t been so stupid things would’ve worked out differently. Arisa and the rest had traveled back to Oa to find the guardians of the universe. But Hal was the best Lantern they had. If he’d been there, maybe the Lanterns wouldn’t have been suckered and overpowered. Maybe they could’ve escaped, and freed the Guardians. Maybe he could’ve gone with the first team to Qward to destroy the Anti-Monitor’s fortress. 

And Barry, Barry who was only a hundred feet away, hidden in the Anti-Monitor’s ship… Maybe he could’ve found him with his ring. Maybe he could’ve saved him. 

But, no. No, not mess-everything-up Hal. 

Not Hal, ruins-every-good-thing-in-his-life-Jordan.

Not Hal, who knew what a good thing he had in his best friend, what a precious, irreplaceable thing, and threw it away for a woman he’d never kept a solid relationship with for a year.

Hal clamped a wrist over his mouth in a desperate attempt to stifle his sobs, in an irrational attempt to keep Wally from hearing him. Since Wally was probably out patrolling the city Hal had shafted onto his shoulders, it’s a ridiculous fear. 

But Hal was a ridiculous person. So.

There he was. Unable to sit any higher than Barry’s boot. Unable to face a life-sized statue of his friend on equal ground. 

Wearing the Guardian’s ring that declared him worthy of wielding the most powerful weapon in the universe. And feeling unworthy to be more than a speck in Barry’s shadow.

He’d promised, hadn’t he? When Iris had died, hadn’t he promised that it was his turn now? His turn to repay Barry for all that the man had done to help  _ him _ ; that now Hal was going to protect Barry, to piece  _ Barry _ back together?

Some job he did.

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, and no one in the universe could put the pieces of Barry Allen back together again. 

He’d tried to will it. Hunched over the gaping scarlet suit, eyes squeezed shut in desperate denial, he’d tried to will together the pieces of his friend: even a body would be better than the gaping maw.

Maybe because it was plain impossible. Maybe because whatever pieces of Barry’s disintegrated body were left were in the Antimatter universe. But nothing had happened. And Hal was left no less useless than when he started.

“I’m sorry.”

It felt insignificant against the vastness of Hal’s failure. 

“I should’ve been there. I should’ve tried to save you. If nothing else, I could’ve  _ tried _ to save you.”

Nothing really changes, but the metal is warm and comforting where Hal has stayed pressed against it. He shifts to a different position. 

“I’m sorry.”

“I promised you. That I’d be there for you. And I wasn’t.”

“Not at the end, and I didn’t even… I wasn’t doing my best. I wasn’t doing anything.”

“You were dying to save the multiverse, and I wasn’t doing anything.”

“I’m sorry, Barry. I promised to be better.”

* * *

In later years, Hal would return to the statue. Would curl up on it’s shoulder and lean against Barry’s neck and bask in the growing warmth it fed him. 

Would tell it his fears and sorrows and worries, would update it with news and events. 

As the world crumbled into despair and darkness, the statue stayed, larger than life, shining against all odds. And as the black of night began to override the bright of day, Hal needed the reassurance of the past, of someone who had been larger than life inundating him day after day. 

And Barry held him, and comforted him and listened to him year after year, soaking up jubilant triumphs, and whispered apologies.

Fortress and sanctuary, confident and friend. 

When Parallax burned through Hal’s mind, the Flash Museum remained untouched. And deep in the dungeon of his own mind, Hal took a shallow comfort in knowing that somewhere, Barry was still standing tall, unbent and unbroken. 

It felt good to see the statue again in person, Hal thought, when he had returned to life and sanity and had been shunned by more friends than he wanted to count. Somehow, he knew that if Barry were alive, he would be just as inviting as the brazen statue to his wayward best friend. 

But, as good as seeing the statue felt, nothing could compare to Barry in the flesh, trembling with pure energy, smiling and warm with his own heat and so  _ alive _ Hal could cry for the joy of it. 

And when Hal shoved himself against Barry’s chest, Barry’s arms moved of their own accord and held him firmly in place, sending warmth and vibrations running through Hal’s entire body. 

He gasped, a long shuddering breath, and felt a stab of pure gratefulness that, whatever the universe had taken away, it had given him this one, terribly important thing back. 

Hal Jordan had his best friend again.

It would always be enough


End file.
